Italian contractor Saipem is expecting to restart work on the TotalEnergies-led Mozambique LNG project in July this year, according to multiple media reports citing Sapiem’s CEO Alessandro Puliti.
French TotalEnergies mothballed the US$20 billion LNG project in April 2021 and withdrew all personnel from the site following jihadist attacks in Cabo Delgado province in the north of the country.
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said recently that the firm was “not in a hurry” to restart work on its giant Mozambique LNG project, regarded as Africa’s largest private investment, but had commissioned Jean-Christophe Rufin, a former diplomat and co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières, to conduct a mission to assess the humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado.
Pouyanne said he would wait for Rufin’s report but, during a call on Sapiem’s 2022 results, Puliti reportedly said “We agreed with Total about restarting in July… this implies that our client is confident to solve potential pending issues by that date.”
TotalEnergies had previously planned to launch the Mozambique LNG project in 2024 after discovering a vast quantity of natural gas off the coast of northern Mozambique in 2010.
As well as the development of offshore gas fields, the project includes a liquefaction plant and a fleet of dedicated LNG carriers. Its partners in the project are Japan’s Mitsui, Mozambique’s ENH, Thailand’s PTT, and Indian firms ONGC, Bharat Petroleum, and Oil India.
Mozambique has set high hopes for its vast natural gas deposits. If fully exploited, they could propel Mozambique into becoming one of the world’s 10 biggest gas exporters.
